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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How do nurturists see the evolution of culture?

2. What evolution creates culture?

3. What causes a change in traits?

4. What is the problem with anthropology, in Edmund Wilson's estimation?

5. What statistic shows the strength of the transcendental view, in Edmund Wilson's account?

Short Essay Questions

1. What ethical perspective does Wilson call the Transcendental view?

2. What is the consilient view of religious ethics?

3. Where does ethics come from, in E.O. Wilson's account?

4. What is the fundamental assumption behind consilience?

5. What is volitional evolution, and what does Wilson say are its effects?

6. How do social factors influence genetic distribution?

7. What is the sign, in EO Wilson's account, that culture is evolving?

8. How does postmodern art resist consilience, in E.O. Wilson's account?

9. What is the purpose of the social sciences, and how does Wilson distinguish the social sciences from the physical social sciences?

10. What social science does Wilson credit with coming closest to consilience?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The model for scientific work is based on hypothesis and testing, with each discovery creating the need for further testing and further hypotheses and publications--but Wilson describes scientific knowledge as settled and established. Is Wilson overlooking the uncertainty in scientific work and generalizing the results? Does the scientific method itself foster consilience or undermine it?

Essay Topic 2

Is there a contradiction in how Wilson distinguishes between the social sciences and natural sciences, and yet argues for the overlap between all forms of knowledge? Is he saying that branches of knowledge are distinct, or not? Is he saying that all branches of knowledge are linked or not?

Essay Topic 3

How does the advent of symmetric multiprocessing computing change the face of science and scientific knowledge? Specifically, how does the ability to crunch enormous amounts of information in multi-variable formulas affect the ability of scientists to describe nature? Does it create a favorable environment for consilience of all the sciences? Or does it reduce things to the laws of statistical probability and math?

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